Don't report frauds below Rs one lakh to police: CVC to banks

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked public sector banks not to report frauds below Rs one lakh to local police, unless their staff is involved in such crimes.

Earlier banks were mandated to report fraud of above Rs 10,000 and below Rs one lakh to police.

The decision was taken by the CVC in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), taking into the account the practical difficulties faced by public sector banks in reporting such categories of cases.

It has been decided that only if staff of the bank is involved in the fraud cases of below Rs one lakh and above Rs 10,000, would such cases need to be reported or complaint filed with local police station by the bank branch concerned, the commission said in a directive to chiefs of all the banks.

The cases of frauds of upto Rs one lakh and not below Rs 10,000 are to be scrutinised by banks officials concerned for further necessary action, a senior CVC official said.

As of September 30, 2016, the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) declared by various scheduled commercial banks stood at a whopping Rs 6,65,864 crore, according to an official data.

The NPAs of the country's largest lender State Bank of India is Rs 97,356 crore, followed by Rs 54,640 crore of Punjab National Bank and Rs 44,040 crore of Bank of India, it said.